Angelo Colarossi
Encyclopedia
Angelo Colarossi was a studio boy and assistant to the sculptor Alfred Gilbert
. At the age of 15, he modelled for Gilbert's most famous statue 'Anteros' (1891) in Piccadilly Circus
. He was later employed by an English firm of aircraft manufacturers.
, and is recorded there in the 1881 census. Angelo Colarossi, senior, had been an artist's model himself, and his son was following in the father's footsteps. Whilst the boy is remembered chiefly for the delicate figure in Piccadilly Circus, the father was the model for several powerful expressions of masculinity, such as Athlete Wrestling a Python by Frederic, Lord Leighton.
Alfred Gilbert was commissioned to sculpt a memorial to Anthony Ashley-Cooper
, the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury
, in 1886. For five years Gilbert considered various ideas to celebrate the charitable life of the Earl. He eventually decided on an ornate fountain, topped with the winged figure of Anteros
, the ancient Greek symbol of Selfless Love. The aluminium figure of the youth, caught is if he were almost in flight, has an outstretched bow arm and extended opposing leg. The Anteros figure is eight feet in height, weighs nearly three hundred-weight.
The Colarossi boy posed for Gilbert's Anteros in the artist's studio at 8, The Avenue. The painter John Singer Sargent
later occupied studios adjacent to Gilbert's. Gilbert befriended Sargent, who was working on the murals for Boston Library, and Sargent made studies for the figure of Moses
using Colarossi's father, who had been a model in his own right, before the Colarossi boy modelled for Gilbert.
A contemporary of Gilbert's, John William Waterhouse
also seems to have employed Angelo Colarossi senior (1839–1916) as one of his models. It is not known if the younger Colarossi ever posed for Waterhouse, but as the boy never grew over five feet tall, suggestions that he was the model for one of the youths that feature in Waterhouse's paintings of the early 1890s seem reasonable.
Cemetery, which is seven or so acres in area and witnessed its first burial in 1886.
and Alphonse Mucha. This claim is made in the 1929 biography of Alfred Gilbert by Isabel McAllister. Located at 10 rue de la Grande-Chaumière in Paris, France, it was established in the 19th century as an alternative to the government sanctioned École des Beaux Arts
Colin Ford identifies Angelo Colarossi senior with the model in Julia Margaret Cameron
's 1860s photograph 'Iago', after comparing the portrait with other likenesses of Colarossi. However the named drawing of Colarossi shows a heavily moustached man; aside from Frederick Leighton, everybody else depicted Colarossi with his moustache. The lack of a moustache suggests that Cameron's 'Iago' is, if not Angelo Colarossi senior, then possibly a portrait of a Colarossi brother. Earlier references give the model's name as Alessandro; Angelo Colarossi senior may have had a brother named Alessandro - he certainly had an Alessandro and an Angelo as sons. If this is the case, Cameron's 'Iago' would be a picture of our Angelo's uncle
Angelo's parents were married in 1867, by which time they already had one son Fiori Albert Colarossi, born in 1866. He appears in the 1881 census as Albert and was married in Chelsea in 1905. There was a sister Marie Augustina Colarossi, who appears in the 1881 census as MAri, and married Ferdinando Belisario in 1887.
The next two children: Antonio Colarossi and Antonio Angelo Colarossi both died as infants. Angelo was next, followed by another sister, Mary Ann Rosa Colarossi, shown as Rosa in the 1881 census. She was married in Fulham in 1905. After Rosa came Lorenzo Alfonso Colarossi, born in 1879, who appears in the census as Laurence. He was followed in early 1881 by Alessandro Gilbert Colarossi, who is shown as an unnamed infant just 7 days old in the 1881 census. According to family sources, he later moved to America and died in Pennsylvania, in 1953. Apparently the last of the family was Mabel Colarossi, born in Fulham in 1884, however not all the Colarossi children's births were registered.
Alfred Gilbert
Sir Alfred Gilbert was an English sculptor and goldsmith who enthusiastically experimented with metallurgical innovations...
. At the age of 15, he modelled for Gilbert's most famous statue 'Anteros' (1891) in Piccadilly Circus
Piccadilly Circus
Piccadilly Circus is a road junction and public space of London's West End in the City of Westminster, built in 1819 to connect Regent Street with the major shopping street of Piccadilly...
. He was later employed by an English firm of aircraft manufacturers.
Life
Angelo Colarossi the younger was one of six or more children born to Angelo Colarossi, senior (c. 1838-1916), and Mary Ann Gorman in West London. The family lived at 14, Masboro Road West, in the Brook Green area of HammersmithHammersmith
Hammersmith is an urban centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London, England, in the United Kingdom, approximately five miles west of Charing Cross on the north bank of the River Thames...
, and is recorded there in the 1881 census. Angelo Colarossi, senior, had been an artist's model himself, and his son was following in the father's footsteps. Whilst the boy is remembered chiefly for the delicate figure in Piccadilly Circus, the father was the model for several powerful expressions of masculinity, such as Athlete Wrestling a Python by Frederic, Lord Leighton.
Alfred Gilbert was commissioned to sculpt a memorial to Anthony Ashley-Cooper
Anthony Ashley-Cooper
Anthony Ashley-Cooper may refer to:*Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury , English nobleman*Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 2nd Earl of Shaftesbury , English nobleman...
, the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury
Earl of Shaftesbury
Earl of Shaftesbury is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1672 for Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 1st Baron Ashley, a prominent politician in the Cabal then dominating the policies of King Charles II...
, in 1886. For five years Gilbert considered various ideas to celebrate the charitable life of the Earl. He eventually decided on an ornate fountain, topped with the winged figure of Anteros
Anteros
In Greek mythology, Anteros was the god of requited love, literally "love returned" or "counter-love" and also the punisher of those who scorn love and the advances of others, or the avenger of unrequited love....
, the ancient Greek symbol of Selfless Love. The aluminium figure of the youth, caught is if he were almost in flight, has an outstretched bow arm and extended opposing leg. The Anteros figure is eight feet in height, weighs nearly three hundred-weight.
The Colarossi boy posed for Gilbert's Anteros in the artist's studio at 8, The Avenue. The painter John Singer Sargent
John Singer Sargent
John Singer Sargent was an American artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian era luxury. During his career, he created roughly 900 oil paintings and more than 2,000 watercolors, as well as countless sketches and charcoal drawings...
later occupied studios adjacent to Gilbert's. Gilbert befriended Sargent, who was working on the murals for Boston Library, and Sargent made studies for the figure of Moses
Moses
Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...
using Colarossi's father, who had been a model in his own right, before the Colarossi boy modelled for Gilbert.
A contemporary of Gilbert's, John William Waterhouse
John William Waterhouse
John William Waterhouse was an English painter known for working in the Pre-Raphaelite style. He worked several decades after the breakup of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, which had seen its heydey in the mid-nineteenth century, leading him to have gained the moniker of "the modern Pre-Raphaelite"...
also seems to have employed Angelo Colarossi senior (1839–1916) as one of his models. It is not known if the younger Colarossi ever posed for Waterhouse, but as the boy never grew over five feet tall, suggestions that he was the model for one of the youths that feature in Waterhouse's paintings of the early 1890s seem reasonable.
Later life
Both father and son posed for Frederick Leighton's monumental canvas 'And the sea gave up the dead which were in it' (Tate Collection), providing a useful record of how they looked at the time. Colarossi married in Fulham in 1904, and later went to work in an aircraft factory. He is buried in FelthamFeltham
Feltham is a town in the London Borough of Hounslow, west London. It is located about west south west of central London at Charing Cross and from Heathrow Airport Central...
Cemetery, which is seven or so acres in area and witnessed its first burial in 1886.
Other family members
Angelo was reputedly the nephew of Filippo Colarossi, a sculptor who was manager of the famous Académie Colarossi, an art school in Paris, whose students included Amedeo ModiglianiAmedeo Modigliani
Amedeo Clemente Modigliani was an Italian painter and sculptor who worked mainly in France. Primarily a figurative artist, he became known for paintings and sculptures in a modern style characterized by mask-like faces and elongation of form...
and Alphonse Mucha. This claim is made in the 1929 biography of Alfred Gilbert by Isabel McAllister. Located at 10 rue de la Grande-Chaumière in Paris, France, it was established in the 19th century as an alternative to the government sanctioned École des Beaux Arts
Colin Ford identifies Angelo Colarossi senior with the model in Julia Margaret Cameron
Julia Margaret Cameron
Julia Margaret Cameron was a British photographer. She became known for her portraits of celebrities of the time, and for photographs with Arthurian and other legendary themes....
's 1860s photograph 'Iago', after comparing the portrait with other likenesses of Colarossi. However the named drawing of Colarossi shows a heavily moustached man; aside from Frederick Leighton, everybody else depicted Colarossi with his moustache. The lack of a moustache suggests that Cameron's 'Iago' is, if not Angelo Colarossi senior, then possibly a portrait of a Colarossi brother. Earlier references give the model's name as Alessandro; Angelo Colarossi senior may have had a brother named Alessandro - he certainly had an Alessandro and an Angelo as sons. If this is the case, Cameron's 'Iago' would be a picture of our Angelo's uncle
Angelo's parents were married in 1867, by which time they already had one son Fiori Albert Colarossi, born in 1866. He appears in the 1881 census as Albert and was married in Chelsea in 1905. There was a sister Marie Augustina Colarossi, who appears in the 1881 census as MAri, and married Ferdinando Belisario in 1887.
The next two children: Antonio Colarossi and Antonio Angelo Colarossi both died as infants. Angelo was next, followed by another sister, Mary Ann Rosa Colarossi, shown as Rosa in the 1881 census. She was married in Fulham in 1905. After Rosa came Lorenzo Alfonso Colarossi, born in 1879, who appears in the census as Laurence. He was followed in early 1881 by Alessandro Gilbert Colarossi, who is shown as an unnamed infant just 7 days old in the 1881 census. According to family sources, he later moved to America and died in Pennsylvania, in 1953. Apparently the last of the family was Mabel Colarossi, born in Fulham in 1884, however not all the Colarossi children's births were registered.
Sources
Colin Ford CBE has researched extensively into Angelo Colarossi and his family.- Mrs A. M. W. Stirling - 'The Richmond Papers', London, 1926;
- Isabel McAllister - 'Alfred Gilbert', London, 1929;
- Martin Chisholm - 'The Man who was Eros', Picture Post, June 28, 1947;
- Leonée & Richard Ormond - 'Lord Leighton', London, 1975;
- Various Authors - 'Victorian High Renaissance', Minneapolis Institute of Arts. 1979;
- Anthony Hobson - 'The Art and Life of J. W. Waterhouse RA, 1849-1917', London' 1980;
- Richard Dorment - 'Alfred Gilbert', Yale, 1985;
- Richard Dorment - 'Alfred Gilbert, Sculptor and Goldsmith', Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1986;
- Edward J. Nygren - 'John Singer Sargent Drawings from the Corcoran Gallery of Art', Smithsonian Institution, 1993;
- Simon Reynolds - 'William Blake Richmond - An Artist's Life, 1842-1921', Norwich, 1995;
- Benedict Read - 'Leighton as a Sculptor, Lord Leighton and Leighton House - A Centenary Celebration', Apollo Magazine, 1996;
- David M. Wilson - 'Vikings and Gods in European Art', Moesgård Museum, 1997;
- Caroline Dakers - 'The Holland Park Circle' - Artists and Victorian Society, Yale, 1999;
- Martin Postle & William Vaughan - 'The Artist's Model from Etty to Spencer', London, 1999;
- Jill Berk Jiminez - 'Dictionary of Artists' Models', London/Chicago, 2001;
- Peter Trippi - 'J. W. Waterhouse', London, 2002;
- Colin Ford - 'Mountain Nymph' and 'Damnèd Villain', History of Photography, Volume 27, Number 1, Spring 2003;
- Simon Toll - 'Herbert Draper, 1863–1920, A Life Study', Antique Collectors Club, 2003.
External links
- Scott Thomas Buckle, A Waterhouse Sketch Discovered